- •Texts: origin of life. Properties of chemical reactions pre-reading and reading tasks.
- •Origin of life
- •Notes to the text: Aristotle ["xrIs'tq(V)tl]
- •John Tyndall [dZPn tIndl]
- •Comprehension check
- •3. Point out the topic sentence in each paragraph. Language focus Form the derivatives of the words given in the chart below (where possible):
- •Follow-up activities
- •Additional text
- •I. Read and translate the text. Be ready to fulfil the tasks that follow. Properties of chemical reactions
- •Post-reading tasks
- •Grammar exercises
- •Texts: the cell. Cells pre-reading and reading tasks.
- •1. Study the meaning and pronunciation of the following words:
- •2. Make sure you know the following words and word combinations:
- •3. Comment on the headline of the text before reading it. What do you know about the cell? Read the text and point out what information is new for you. The cell
- •Notes to the text:
- •Comprehension check
- •Language focus
- •1. Say it in another way (give synonyms):
- •Follow-up activities
- •Additional text
- •Post-reading tasks
- •Grammar exercises
- •Texts: how the body works. The skin. Seeing. Taste and smell. Hearing. Pre-reading and reading tasks
- •How the body works
- •Comprehension check
- •1. Agree or disagree with the following:
- •2. Answer the questions:
- •Language focus
- •Follow-up activities
- •Additional texts
- •The skin
- •Taste and smell
- •Hearing
- •Imagine that you are making a speech on one of these topics:
- •Grammar exercises
- •Texts: the brain. Pre-reading and reading tasks.
- •1. Practise the pronunciation and study the meaning of the words:
- •The brain
- •Comprehension check
- •1. Express your agreement or disagreement with the following:
- •Language focus.
- •3. Translate the following sentences from Russian into English:
- •Follow-up activities
- •Additional text
- •The brain
- •Post-reading tasks
- •Grammar exercises
- •Texts: the nerves. The nervous system. Pre-reading and reading tasks
- •The nerves
- •Comprehension check
- •Language focus
- •3). Translate the sentences into English using the vocabulary of the unit:
- •Follow-up activities
- •Additional text
- •The nervous system
- •Post-reading tasks
- •Grammar exercises
- •Texts: the skeleton and muscles. Bones and muscles. Pre-reading and reading tasks
- •The skeleton and muscles
- •Comprehension check
- •Language focus
- •Follow-up activities
- •Additional text
- •Bones and muscles
- •Post-reading tasks
- •Grammar exercises
- •Texts: the blood system. Blood. Pre-reading and reading tasks
- •2. Try to guess the meaning of the following words and word combinations:
- •3. Read the text carefully to fulfil the tasks that follow. The blood system
- •Comprehension check
- •Language focus
- •In each box below match the words which are: a) similar or b) opposite in meaning:
- •Follow-up activities
- •Additional text
- •Post-reading tasks
- •Grammar exercises
- •Texts: the digestive system. Nutrition. Pre-reading and reading tasks
- •2. Make sure you know the meaning of these words and word combinations:
- •3. Read the text carefully to fulfil the tasks that follow. The digestive system
- •Comprehension check
- •Language focus
- •Follow-up activities
- •Additional text
- •Nutrition
- •Post-reading tasks
- •Imagine that you are making a speech on the topic “Nutrition”. Grammar exercises
- •Pre-reading and reading tasks
- •Viruses and subviruses
- •Viruses
- •Subviruses
- •Comrehension check
- •Viruses contain
- •Viruses do not
- •Viruses that attack only bacteria are known as … .
- •It is possible that viruses may be moving genetic material from
- •Viruses may prove, in some cases, to be the simplest of
- •3. Think of 5-7 statements that would contradict the contents of the text. Language focus
- •3. Define the following terms:
- •4. Match the first half of a sentence in column a with the appropriate second half in column b:
- •5. Put the parts of the sentences in the right order:
- •Unit 10
- •Text: monera pre-reading and reading tasks
- •1. Make sure you know the following words:
- •2. Read and translate the text. Monera
- •Comprehension check
- •Follow-up activities
- •1. Prepare a dialogue with your partner discussing:
- •Grammar exercises
- •Unit 11
- •Text: protista. Pre-reading and reading tasks
- •1. Make sure you know the following words:
- •2. Read and translate the text. Protista
- •Comprehension check
- •1. Choose the right variant for the multiple-choice statements.
- •1. All protists
- •2. Ask questions revealing the main points of the text.
- •3. Think of 5-7 statements that would contradict the contents of the text. Language focus
- •Follow-up activities
- •1. Prepare dialogues discussing: a) general information about the kingdom Protista; b) primitive protists; c) true algae; d) unicellular algae.
- •2. Prepare a report on the topic under discussion. Grammar exercises
- •Unit 12
- •Text: fungi pre-reading and reading tasks
- •1. Make sure you know the following words and word combinations:
- •Comprehension check
- •7. Many true fungi have mycelia that grow in a close, intimate manner with plant roots, where the plants benefit by receiving … and … while the fungus benefits by receiving nutritious … .
- •8. Lichens involve the close association of a … and a … .
- •9. When the hyphae of a fungus grow around, sometimes in between, and even within living plant root cells, the association is … .
- •2. Questions to think about.
- •3. Think of 5-7 statements that would contradict the contents of the text. Language focus
- •1. Match the words that are: a) similar and b) opposite in meaning:
- •1. Name and describe: a) the major groups of fungi; b) the ways of fungal nutrition.
- •2. Prepare a report on the topic under discussion. Grammar exercises
- •Unit 13
- •Text: plant kingdom: plantae. Pre-reading and reading tasks.
- •Plant kingdom: plantae
- •Comprehension check
- •Language focus
- •Follow-up activities
- •1. Explain the terms: Chlorophyta, Phaeophyta, Rhodophyta.
- •Grammar exercises
- •Unit 14
- •Texts: coniferophyta: conifers. Anthophyta / angiosperms: flowering plants. Pre-reading and reading tasks
- •2. Read and translate the text. Coniferophyta: conifers
- •Anthophyta / angiosperms: flowering plants
- •Comprehension check
- •2. Ask questions revealing the main points of the text.
- •3. Think of 5-7 statements that would contradict the contents of the text. Language focus
- •1. Match the words that are: a) similar and b) opposite in meaning:
- •Follow-up activities
Pre-reading and reading tasks
Make sure you know the following words:
to interfere with |
["Intq'fIq] |
мешать, вредить |
inscrutable |
[In'skru:tqb(q)l] |
загадочный, непостижимый |
entity |
['entItI] |
сущность, существо, организм |
to overpower |
["qVvq'paVq] |
подавлять |
machinery |
[mq'Si:n(q)rI] |
структура |
intact |
[In'txkt] |
нетронутый, неповрежденный, целый |
crucial |
['kru:S(q)l] |
решающий, критический |
to impart |
[Im'pQ:t] |
придавать, сообщать |
to promote |
[prq'mqVt] |
способствовать, помогать |
fracture |
['frxktSq] |
перелом, трещина, разрыв |
awry |
[q'raI] |
неправильный |
template |
['templIt] |
матрица |
rabies |
['reIbi:z] |
бешенство |
scrapie |
['skreIpI] |
почесуха (вет.) |
strain |
[streIn] |
штамм |
Read and translate the text.
Viruses and subviruses
Viruses and subviruses are not cellular. Therefore, by definition they are not living because their primary units are not cells. Even so, they interact with living organisms in many fundamental ways, interfering with their cellular processes, and are capable of causing a number of very real symptoms. In fact, these tiny, inscrutable, nonliving entities are responsible for over 60 million common colds each year in America alone, as well as for a number of other major scourges and epidemics, including AIDS.
Viruses
The fact that viruses share properties of most living organisms provides good reason to include them in their own noncellular category of life. Were this to be sanctioned by most scientists, it would require expanding the definition of life as it currently stands to include noncellular entities that contain genes. Should such a revision ever occur, viruses might form their own kingdom.
Viruses are, on the average, from 10 to 100 times smaller than the typical bacterium, making them too small to be seen by most optical microscopes. In 1931, the invention of the electron microscope broke this light barrier. And X-ray crystallography, a technique by which X-rays are diffracted through crystallized virus particles to reveal their molecular structure, enabled researchers to study these forms.
Like some obligate intracellular bacteria, viruses are parasitic and unable to reproduce without having cells to inhabit. Viruses, like living cells, contain nucleic acids, which are enclosed in a protective coat of protein, sometimes called the viral capsid, which ranges from 20 to 250 nanometers across (1 nanometer = 1 millionth of a millimeter).
Outside cells, viruses neither reproduce, feed, nor grow. And, unlike living cells, viruses do not metabolize; that is, they do not generate their own energy. Instead, with the information contained in their viral DNA or RNA, they overpower other cells, inserting their nucleic acids into their host’s cell to direct the production of more viruses by utilizing the host’s cellular machinery. While all other organisms contain both DNA and RNA, viruses contain only one or the other.
Outside of a host cell, a virus is inert, incapable of reproduction, or of any metabolic functions that would identify it as living. However, each of the many different types of viruses “identify” receptor sites on a potential host’s outer coat of protein and thereby “know” which cells to attack. A virus may infect a host cell either by attaching to the host’s protein coat while injecting the viral DNA or RNA into the host or by entering the host intact. Once inside, the viral capsid dissolves and the viral DNA or RNA acts as a template for the manufacture of viral components. That is, the virus attaches its genetic material to that of the host and “tricks” it into producing more viruses through the same mechanisms the cell normally uses to replicate itself. In time, the virus particles are assembled within the host cell. Then, by lysing (dissolving) the cell membrane, the new viruses leave the host and infect new, uninfected cells.
Viruses’ capacity to interfere with and inject viral genetic information into a host’s cells may play an important and possibly, even crucial role in evolution. By rearranging the DNA in chromosomes and by transferring genes from one species to another, viruses may be moving genetic material among plants and animals, sometimes imparting new characteristics that are adaptively significant. In fact, it is possible that certain viruses may have an evolutionarily beneficial effect over time.
It has been suggested that viruses are more closely related to their hosts than to one another, having perhaps originated as nucleic acids that escaped from cells and began replicating on their own, but returning to the cells for necessary chemicals and structures.
Some viruses known as bacteriophages attack only bacteria. Other attack only eukaryotic cells. And many are extremely specific with regard to the type of cell they will attack. The major types of viruses that attack humans include cold viruses, or rhinoviruses, which cause most common colds.
The influenza virus is the fastest mutating virus known, capable of rapidly changing the outer protein coat through succeeding generations of the flu. People can therefore catch the flu more than once a year, since they have no antibodies to the new virus. RNA viruses cause measles, rubella (German measles), and mumps – all childhood diseases. Another childhood disease, called fifth disease, is caused by parvovirus.
Different forms of herpes virus include those that cause cold sores, genital sores, chicken pox (or, if it’s reactivated, shingles), and Epstein-Barr virus, which causes mononucleosis.
Papillomaviruses, of which forty-six types are known, cause plantar warts, genital warts, and certain wartlike rashes. Hepatitis is also caused by a virus.
Retroviruses are a group of viruses named for their backward (retro) sequence of genetic replication as compared to other viruses. The AIDS viruses are in this group. Another well-known disease caused by a viral infection is rabies.